Romans 11:20-23 “Well;
because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not
highminded, but fear: 21For if God spared not the natural branches, take heedlest he also spare not thee. 22Behold
therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but
toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise
thou also shalt be cut off. 23And they also, if they abide not still
in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again.”

In writing to the Roman brethren,
Paul reminds them that because of their unbelief the chosen people of God, the
Israelite nation was broken off.They
are no longer God’s chosen people, they have been
replaced by those who are children of God by reason of their obedience to the
gospel of Christ.He asks them to
observe both the goodness and severity of God.They are to observe God’s goodness toward those who were added to the
kingdom of his Son to whom he is writing and his severity to those who have
chosen not to believe.

Our world today would do well to
observe the same manifestation of the nature of God.Today millions teach that God is too good to
punish mankind in a devils hell.God is
too good to deny his crowning creation simply because of their refusal to obey
his commandments.God is too good to
destroy nations and people because they have defied him.But the history of mankind and especially the
history of Israel and it neighbors paint a very different picture.Thus we will consider in this lesson both the
goodness and the severity, or wrath of God.

God’s Goodness

God created mankind in his own image:

Genesis 1:27“So God created man in his own image, in the
image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”

God gave man a
spirit.God is a spirit being; a spirit
without beginning and without end.Because
of God’s goodness and love toward man he gave man a spirit that will never die;
a spirit that will be without end.God
gave man a spirit that He wants to be able to cherish, provide and keep for in
his presence for eternity.

God gave man dominion over every other
creature he created.

Genesis 1:26 “And God said, Let us make man in our image,
after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and
over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over
every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”

God gave mankind the power to
reason, the power to rule, the power to dominate every
other creature that he created.He gave
man the capability to love, to hate, the power to choose whether he would serve
Him or not.He gave mankind the freedom
to make his own decisions and determine his own destiny.Adam and Eve made a choice and chose to
disobey God and fell.

When man fell, God announced his
intentions of sending the Saviour:

Mother Eve was deceived by Satan and
enticed to disobey the one prohibition that we have record of God giving
man.She ate of the fruit of the tree of
knowledge of good and evil.Her husband,
with full knowledge that he was disobeying God, followed her example.Sin was brought into the world for the first
time.God could have stopped, eliminated
these two who had defied him and started over; but he chose not to do so.Instead, he made a promise to Eve, to Satan
and literally to every man, woman or child of age who ever lived:

Genesis
3:15 “And
I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her
seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

Man sinned, man
transgressed God’s law, man destroyed his relationship, his fellowship with God
but God through his goodness didn’t destroy man.Instead God planned and in his own good time
provided a means of removing the stain of sin from man’s soul.

God gave his son as a sacrifice to
provide the cleansing blood for my soul, your soul and the souls of all
mankind who would honor him and his laws.

John 3:16“For God so loved the world, that he gave his
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.”

“The Goodness and Severity of God”

From the beginning of time, from the
very moment that the first sin committed by mankind was revealed, God gave
mankind a promise to remove the effects of that sin.He gave us an assurance that the purity of
our souls would be restored when we sin.So how did he plan to do that?This was to be accomplished through the seed of woman as we just noted
in Genesis 3:15.A boy child, a son,
conceived of the Holy Spirit, the Son of God would be brought into the
world.This boy child would be born as a
man for one purpose and one purpose only.His purpose was to be the blood sacrifice required to remove the sins of
men; weak, rebellious, unrighteous men that God loves beyond our capability to
understand.

Romans 5:8 “But
God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us.”

God’s goodness is so great that he
gave his only begotten son, to die for you and I, to
die that you and I might live with him in eternity.When we meditate upon God’s goodness how can we as mere human beings understand the depth and width of
that goodness.Could we bear the pain
and sorrow of bringing a child into the world for the sole purpose of redeeming
those who have made themselves our enemies?Could we envision any of the beautiful children in our presence being
used as a sacrifice for the sins of men?Even the thought of such is horrifying but this is the measure of God’s
goodness and God’s love for mankind.Consequently:

God gave us the Gospel.

Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ:
for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the
Jew first, and also to the Greek.”

God in his goodness did not leave mankind
without instruction in how we should avail ourselves of the benefit of his
goodness.He gave us the gospel, the
good news, concerning Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the body of teaching, that
doctrine that we find in the New Testament, the new will created and placed in
force by Him is our covenant, our rule book, the law of God for man today.It is indeed the power needed to become
children of God, to access the most precious blessings of Almighty God.

Jesus himself said as part of his
final charge to his disciples:

Mark 16:15-16 “…Go
ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every
creature. 16He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he
that believeth not shall be damned.”

“The Goodness and Severity of
God”

Thus through the
goodness of God you and I have the opportunity to remove all sin from our
souls.Through the goodness of God we
have the opportunity to reserve a place in heaven with God for eternity for
ourselves.In order to reveal His
thoughts his mind to us and provide us with instruction.

God gave us the Bible.

II Timothy 3:16-17 “All
scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness: 17That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly
furnished unto all good works.”

God knew that in spite of man having
the power to reason, in spite of being able to learn the lessons of life, in
spite of being able to learn from those who have preceded us that the words of
the prophet Jeremiah are true and would be true for all time:

Jeremiah 10:23 “O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it
isnot in man that walketh to
direct his steps.”

So God in his
goodness, his concern that man would have proper guidance for his life and his
living that:

“According
as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath
called us to glory and virtue: 4Whereby are given unto us exceeding
great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine
nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
II Peter 1:3-4

Because of His
goodness:

God has extended his grace to all
mankind.

Titus 2:11-12 “For the grace of God that
bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12Teaching us that,
denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and
godly, in this present world;”

“The Goodness and Severity of God”

Grace is given, it cannot be
earned.Grace is defined as favor that
has not been merited or gained through the efforts of those who receive
it.There is nothing that man can do of
himself, no work, no duty, no worship through which man can gain the blessings
and grace of God.God through his
goodness and love gives us his grace, his favor; and then through his grace
gives mankind these all the blessings we enjoy; but most importantly the
opportunity for remission of our sins by obedience to Him.That promise is extended to all men:

“8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves:
it is the gift of God:” Ephesians 2:8

But the acceptance of God’s grace is
conditional.If it were not then the
apostle could not write:

II Corinthians 6:1 “We
then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.”

God’s grace can be
received in vain, to no purpose, if we are not obedient as his children.

God through his goodness pleads for our
salvation.

Ezekiel 33:11 “Say
unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no
pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and
live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye
die, O house of Israel?”

This is just one example.Through our study of the minor
prophets we have seen that God through his longsuffering, his patience,
his love for his children pleads again and again for Israel and then Judah to repent and return to him.But when God’s offer of his grace was
rejected it served no purpose.The
northern kingdom of Israel was totally destroyed, cleaned from the
face of the earth never to be restored.The kingdom
of Judah was taken into captivity, purified and restored
once again in order to bring Christ into the world, then disbursed, never again
to exist as a nation.

God, through his goodness, continues
to plead with men today.The apostle
records that God is the one:

” 3For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our
Saviour; 4Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the
knowledge of the truth.” I Timothy 2:3-4

God’s Severity

But there is another aspect of God
that men would like to be able to ignore and many do.Just as the goodness, grace, longsuffering
and love of God is perfect, pure and beyond the understanding of man except
that he reveal it, God’s wrath, vengeance and the severity of God’s punishment
is perfect as well.God has given all
mankind laws, rules, regulations and commandments throughout time that he
expects us to obey and to follow.Along
with those laws and commandments he has promised us consequences when we disobey,
when we reject them; when we ignore them.When God’s first creation ignored His commandments:

God drove Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden, brought physical death to mankind.

Genesis 3:3 “But
of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye
shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”

Genesis 3:22 “And
the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and
evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life,
and eat, and live for ever: v.24
“So he drove out the man; and he placed
at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned
every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.”

Someone might say,
they didn’t do anything really bad or evil.The attitude of many today is that God’s commandments are to be accepted
or ignored at will and that isn’t anything really bad.But Adam and Eve sinned, they transgressed
God’s law (I John 5:4) and God took
away the blessing of His beautiful garden, we to this day earn our living by
the sweat of our bodies and at the end of our time here on earth die
physically.All this because of God’s
punishment of the disobedient is severe.When men became so sinful the couldn’t stand them
anymore.

God sent the flood to destroy the earth
completely.

Genesis
6:5 “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his
heart was only evil continually.”

In just a few generations after being
banned from the garden mankind had become so corrupt, so immoral, so sinful
that God could no longer stand to look at the condition of his creation.

Genesis 6:6“And it repented the
LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.”

God repented of
having even made man so He decided to correct this awful situation.

Genesis 6:17 “And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of
waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, whereinis the breath of
life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall
die.”

And God brought
total destruction upon the earth.He destroyed
mankind, except for Noah and his immediate family who were righteous,
destroying all of his creation that was on earth, the earth itself, literally
remaking it into the form that we see today.Should there be any doubt that God will do that again just as he has promised;
destroying this earth again and banning the sinful to a devil’s hell?

God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

Genesis 19:24-25 “Then
the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire
from the LORD out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the
plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the
ground.”

Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain were prosperous
and blessed to the extent that Lot chose
to pitch his tents and move his flocks toward them.But inside they were rotten.Among their other sins they practiced that
which was an abomination to God, homosexuality.God destroyed them totally, even that “WHICH GREW UPON THE GROUND” and
today we see a desolate valley good only for the gathering of pitch and harsh
chemicals.

This country today isn’t far behind Sodom and Gomorrah.Many
of our citizens are clamoring for their sin to be declared a human right
protected by law.Not only that; it is
reported that legislation is in congress today; that if brought into law, would
make my presenting the Word of God on this subject a “hate crime” and would
land me in jail for doing so.

God barred Moses from entering the promised land.

Numbers 20:7-8 “And
the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 8Take the rod, and gather thou
the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock
before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring
forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and
their beasts drink.”

Moses, the very one chosen by God to
lead his people from the slavery of Egypt to the land that they were promised, was
not allowed to enter.Why?He was not allowed to enter because he
disobeyed God.When Israel needed water to sustain the people and
their flocks and herds, Moses was instructed to “SPEAK YE UNTO THE ROCK” to
bring forth water.But Moses did not do
as God told him.

Numbers
20:11 “And
Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the
water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.”

That was a small
thing someone might say. But it wasn’t a
small thing to God.Moses had dedicated
the latter years of his life to leading God’s people but because of his
disobedience God would not allow him to lead them to their final destination.

Numbers 20:12 “And
the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron,
Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of
Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I
have given them.”

Nadab and Abihu were destroyed by fire:

Leviticus
10:1-2 “And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took
either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and
offered strange fire before the LORD,
which he commanded them not. 2And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died
before the LORD.”

Nadab and Abihu were priests of God,
men chosen to conduct the worship of the Almighty God for the children of Israel.But
in doing so they were as arrogant as any denominational preacher, worshiper or
apostate brother of today.They did it
their way.To burn the incense before
God they used “STRANGE FIRE”, fire other than that which God had commanded them
to use.Consequently they died, severe punishment someone might say but just before
God.In the New Testament:

Ananias and Sapphira were struck dead.

Acts 5:1-5 “But a certain man named
Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, 2And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a
certain part, and laid itat the apostles’ feet.3But
Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy
Ghost, and to keep back partof the price of the
land? 4Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was
sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in
thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. 5And Ananias
hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on
all them that heard these things.”

Well, that was a small thing wasn’t
it?Ananias and Sapphira sold a
possession and made a donation to the work of the church in Jerusalem.This
is a very commendable act in the sight of men.But they told a “little white lie” didn’t they?When asked if the amount donated was the
amount for which they sold the possession they said yes.They wanted to brag a little bit, they wanted
to be thought of a little more highly than they deserved.But they lied to the Holy Spirit, to God, and
they were struck dead.But the most
severe lesson that man will learn about the goodness and severity of God will
come at the end of time.

The Judgment of God

Matthew 25:31-33 “When
the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then
shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: 32And before him shall be
gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a
shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: 33And he
shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.”

This is the scene of the judgment,
related to us by the words of Jesus himself.All men, all nations, all that ever lived will be brought before
him.We will be sorted, you go left, you
go right; but to what?

Matthew 25:34 “Then
shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:”

Matthew 25:41 “Then
shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into
everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:”

Those, yes even those whom men would
call good, who did not obey God, who are not God’s children will be sent into a
devil’s hell for eternity.

Conclusion and Invitation

As we noted earlier in our lesson
God, through his goodness, continues to plead with men today.The apostle records:

” 3For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our
Saviour; 4Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the
knowledge of the truth.” I Timothy 2:3-4

Neither God nor his
Son wants to send anyone to the left hand on the day of
judgment but will send all those who do not obey him.Are you a child of God today?

If not then Believe
Mark 16:15-16, Repent, Luke 13:3, Confess Romans 10:9-10 and be baptized to wash away your sins, Acts 22:16. Are you a child of God that has been
unfaithful or has public sin on their souls that has brought reproach upon God
and his chosen people?If so then repent
and pray for His forgiveness as Peter told Simon in Acts 8:22.

William L.
Schwegler, Sunset church
of Christ, Sunday morning; May 3, 2009